All good (and bad) things must come to an end. Let me start with the good things. As the President of the chapter, I had a great experience working with the Board of Directors and my fellow Officers, planning for new events, and welcoming friends and colleagues at every dinner meeting. We accomplished a lot, failed in some, and had a good time doing it. Personally, the initial few months were difficult for me, with full time work and part time teaching load. But I had great support from everyone. In fact, I used to look forward to our meetings, despite serious time crunch. The dreaded part of being the Chapter President, in my opinion, is writing the President’s message – every month. I cannot say that scratching my head and dealing with writer’s block while facing the looming newsletter deadline is a pleasant experience. I am sure most, if not all, past Presidents of the Chapter will agree with me. I am glad that I am writing the last message. Kevin, it is your turn now.
It won’t be possible to wrap up my “last message” without thanking certain folks. First, thanks to my Board of Directors and fellow Officers for showing up every month, spending time to discuss the matters important for the Chapter (but boring), arranging event speakers and sometimes a whole panel. A huge thank you to Debbie LoCicero, our Chapter Administrator. I particularly want to thank Debbie for remembering all the little details that made our events successful – keeping track of the attendees, dealing with the event manager, picking up gift cards. She made us look efficient, and without her we would be a little lost. I would also like to thank Kathy Wickam for her continued long-distant support even after she left Sacramento and was no longer a part of the Sierra Chapter. Special thanks to Marco Palilla for his knowledge, wisdom, and enthusiasm to guide our chapter.
The last President’s message won’t be complete without boasting about some of our accomplishments during the year. So, here they are:
· We continued our support for engineering education through our donations to fund several scholarship programs including Tim Fleming Memorial Scholarship Fund and San Joaquin Engineers Council. We also supported high school STEM education through our contribution to local robotics teams and Sacramento Regional Science Fair. We hope our efforts would help advance our profession amongst the next generation of engineers.
· We continued our annual Young Professional Forum event that was introduced last year to attract young professional to our events.
· We had the ball rolling on Public Agency Excellence award. We decided to merge the event with Engineering Excellence Award in the Fall. So, keep an eye on future announcements.
· Sierra Chapter was very well represented at the Legislative Visit Day. Thank you to all chapter participants. It is so important that we, engineers stay engaged in the political process.
What did I miss?
I wish the best for Kevin and the incoming officers and look forward to serving the Chapter as a State Director.
Like every year, we are planning to close the year with some fun. The Summer Social is planned for June 22nd at Sutter Street Steakhouse in Folsom. I hope to see you there.
